Originally Posted by
sailingfun
The data is easily available. For 2010 they averaged 52 block hours per pilot. Delta was at 42. Total pilot costs per block hour flown were 698 at SW and 690 at Delta.
Those are good data points Sailing, especially considering Delta has significantly bigger jets than Southwest that carry more people and go further.
If we flip the numbers around and look at production here's what it looks like:
2010 Production
(for every dollar spent on pilot compensation, heres how many ASMs were produced)
DAL 93.2 $/ASM
SWA 70.6 $/ASM
That means SWA got 32% fewer ASMs from every dollar of pilot pay than Delta did in 2010.
System Total Revenue per ASM:
DAL 12.39¢/ASM
SWA 12.26¢/ASM
Or put another way:
Delta makes about the same money off each ASM as Southwest, yet
Delta pilots are providing a 30% subsidy to Delta's pilot portion of CASM. thus enabling inefficiencies in cost in other departments.
Cheers
George